Private Parts: What to call them?

Give your children the best protection from sexual predators by talking about bodies: all parts of the body, even the private parts.

If children grow up knowing that private body part talk is not allowed then they may not tell you if someone does touch their private parts. Using made up names for private parts signals that it is rude to call private parts by their correct terminology. This needs to change so that children know that this is not a rude subject but that the person who touched them is rude and a law breaker.

Our children need to know that they are allowed to tell us that someone touched their vagina, penis, anus or breast.

Use the following two game ideas to introduce using private part talk:

Swimming costumes: Use dressing or swimming time to introduce private parts. The parts that our swimmers or undies cover are private parts of our body that we don’t share with other people. They are ours and nobody can touch them. Exceptions are parents washing and health workers checking. When children say, “What will I draw?” respond “How about a picture of you in your swimmers? Remember to cover your private parts, and don’t forget a hat”.

A word a week: Correct names of body parts: Many parents are uncomfortable with using the correct name for body parts. To provide your child with the best protection, they need to know the correct or “language” name for their private areas and require instruction from you that nobody can touch them in those places unless Mum or Dad are washing them or unless they are sick and the doctor or nurse needs to look there. It can be hard to introduce the correct names if you have been using nicknames since the child was born. Overcome this by introducing a game of “A word a week”. By teaching a new word a week, say “partition”, or “adventurous” you are normalising the introduction of words of the week like vagina, penis, anus, and breasts.

Does your family use correct terminology for private parts or do you have made up names?